Scuttlebutt about Lindros's role as PA ombudsman takes a petty turn

As the Satellite Hotstove panel reported last Saturday, the NHLPA has a slight problem on its hands, and that problem is the person who should serve as the go-between and player advocate. Eric Lindros isn't doing his job, though Metro Canada's Marty York reports that he's also battling health issues:

December 30, MetroNews: Glen Healy of the NHLPA told Metro he has not seen Lindros in at least three weeks, comments echoed by several other union employees.

"Eric's not easily accessible," an NHLPA employee said. "You can't leave him voice mail anywhere and he seldom comes into our office. We haven't seen him in a very long time."

CBC hockey analyst Mike Milbury, a former NHL general manager, coach and player, said the other day he has information that the NHLPA feels Lindros has been doing a poor job as ombudsman and has been causing problems between the players and executive director Paul Kelly.

Ex-NHLer Steve Larmer, a member of the NHLPA's advisory board, told Metro he wasn't "at liberty to either confirm or deny anything at all about Eric."

Both Larmer and Healy said they weren't aware of any health issues affecting Lindros.

Another NHLPA executive, however, said Lindros has put on "an unbelievable amount of weight" since retiring as a player after last season.

It's hard to speculate as to what's going on with Lindros, and suggesting that becoming overweight proves that a former hockey player who still deals with post-concussion syndrome can't do his job is a particularly pathetic "low blow"--the issue as to what's going on with Lindros health-wise and job-wise should revolve around his performance, not suggestions that he's very literally become "fat and lazy."

If he can't do his job because he's ill, then he can't do his job because he's ill, and the PA needs to rectify that situation in an amicable manner. If he's drawn fire for the way he's done his job when he was healthy, the PA needs to deal with that, too, but essentially calling someone a fatso does nothing but perpetuate the PA's Bob Goodenow-and-Ted Saskin-era image as an organization that can't even find a proper player-PA go-between without petty backstabbing and middle school squabbling.